Stranded Deep is all about making life as comfortable as possible on a desert island. After a few days of exploring, hunting, and surviving, a player might notice a sudden stockpile of rawhide just sitting in their inventory. That's where the Tanning Rack comes in.

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The Tanning Rack is used to transform rawhide into worked leather material, which can be used to craft better items and tools for your adventures in Stranded Deep. It's pretty important. Here's how to craft and use a Tanning Rack.

How To Craft A Tanning Rack

tanning rack in stranded deep

To craft a Tanning Rack a player needs:

  • Four wood sticks
  • Four lashings

Once these are in your inventory, scroll down the crafting menu until you find the Tanning Rack. Wood is easily found along the coastline of your island, or from chopping down trees. Lashings are crafted after harvesting Yucca plants or Palms. Here's our guide to Lashing.

How To Use The Tanning Rack

crafting menu and refined spear in stranded deep

In Stranded Deep, you don't need to put the materials into the crafting station. There is no interaction between the player and the crafting station, a bit like the Loom.

All you need to do is stand nearby the Tanning Rack and open your crafting menu. If you have some of the rawhide in your hand, you will be able to make leather.

There is a direct conversion between Rawhide and Leather — meaning for each Rawhide you will be able to craft one Leather.

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Where To Get Rawhide In Stranded Deep

Before you use the Tanning Rack, you need rawhide. This material is harvested from slain animals, like boars and sharks. A small boar provides between one and three pieces of rawhide, whereas a skinned shark might provide three or four pieces.

There are two animals that provide the most rawhide per kill: the Hog and the Great White Shark. The large hogs, usually found on large islands in Stranded Deep, provide up to four pieces of rawhide. The Great White Shark also provides four rawhide but can be harder to kill.

A player cannot skin an animal until they have crafted a Refined Knife.

giant hog in stranded deep

How To Use Leather From The Tanning Rack

Leather is a very useful material that allows a player to upgrade their crude tools. You can use leather to craft:

  • A Refined Axe
  • A Refined Pick
  • A Refined Spear
  • A Sleeping Bag - lets you have a portable method of sleeping other than constructing a new Shelter on each island.
  • A Leather Waterskin - An effective method of storing water, with three servings of water per pouch.

Other than crafted at a Tanning Rack, some leather can also be found at Shipwrecks. You should be able to get a decent amount of leather from finding and killing small boars. Most items, like the Refined Spear, only require a single piece of Leather. Other animals, like bats and seagulls, do not drop rawhide once skinned.

NEXT: Stranded Deep: How To Make A House